Elswyth

Photographs and Stories by Kate Coldrick | Woodbury, Devon

Elswyth by Kate Coldrick
Kate Coldrick — photographer and writer based in Woodbury, Devon

  • Compline at Culmstock

    From Elswyth, a collection attentive to the small illuminations that gather in winter darkness.

    Culmstock Church was almost entirely dark, save for the soft pools of light that caught on brass, carved wood and the glow of stained glass. The chandeliers shimmered with quiet radiance overhead, their reflections scattered like threads across the shadows. Near the lectern, the deep purple of Advent hung against stone worn smooth by centuries of touch and devotion. Outside, the porch opened into night surrounded by windows burning with colour. Within this gentle light, the stillness of Compline settled over the space – a choral hush held close against the dark.

    A brass chandelier glowing in the darkness inside Culmstock Church, its lights scattering bright rays across the shadows, photographed by Kate Coldrick.
    A carved wooden lectern draped in a rich purple Advent cloth, with brass fittings catching warm light inside Culmstock Church, photographed by Kate Coldrick.
    The porch of Culmstock Church illuminated at night, framed by glowing stained-glass windows against deep darkness, photographed by Kate Coldrick.

    Finding light at the end of a dark winter’s day – a beautiful service of Compline by Ad Hoc Voices.

    Words and images © Kate Coldrick – part of the Elswyth collection.

  • Durham Cathedral Stone

    From Elswyth, a collection tracing how architecture holds memory in its surfaces and gathers us back through time.

    Durham Cathedral rises in patterns of light and stone that feel both monumental and intimate. The great Norman columns, carved with chevrons and lattices, catch the shifting brightness from the clerestory and draw the eye upward through arches layered in shadow and height. Walking through the nave, the rhythms of the carved stone repeat like a pulse, carrying centuries of footsteps and the quiet weight of devotion. In this vast interior, the familiar textures of the pillars and the soft fall of coloured light from the stained glass create a sense of return – a place where the past sits close to the present.

    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Durham Cathedral stone columns - photograph by Kate Coldrick

    These stone columns are so familiar from my earliest memories of being in the sacred space of Durham Cathedral that time collapses, and today I am once again a child, as if pulling on a comforting old cardigan to protect me against the worst of the world outside these walls

    Words and images © Kate Coldrick – part of the Elswyth collection.

  • Escomb Saxon Church

    From Elswyth, a collection attentive to the traces of early devotion and the quiet persistence of place.

    Escomb Church holds its stillness in a way that feels older than the landscape around it. One of the finest surviving examples of early Anglo-Saxon architecture, its seventh-century stonework catches this afternoon’s winter light in soft, shifting planes, and the tall, narrow windows hold a quiet clarity. Inside, a carved cross stands behind the altar, its simple lines worn smooth by time, while fragments of early painted decoration survive high on the arch above. Together they anchor the space in a deep past, making it easy to imagine the earliest prayers once spoken here – words carried forward in time.

    Escomb Saxon Church interior chancel arch - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Escomb Saxon Church detail on interior chancel arch - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Escomb Saxon Church altar cross - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Escomb Saxon Church window - photograph by Kate Coldrick
    Escomb Saxon Church exterior - photograph by Kate Coldrick

    fæder ðu in heofnum
    gehalgod noma ðin
    to cymð ric ðin
    si willa ðin suae is in heofne ⁊ in eorðo
    hlaf userne ofer-wistiic sel us to dæg
    ⁊ forgef us scylda usera
    suae we forgefon scyldgum usrum
    ⁊ ne inlæd us in costunge
    ah gefrig us fra yfele

    Source: Lindisfarne Gospels, BL Cotton MS Nero D IV, ff. 37r–37v (Old Northumbrian gloss).

    Words and images © Kate Coldrick – part of the Elswyth collection.